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Williams Lake Tribune

“NEWS EXCHANG:

& OF THE CARIBOO

con
paket?

Volume 22 —- Number 35.

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. Thursday, August 19, 1954.

Single copy 10c. $2.50 per year.

Thieves Escape With Over $2000

Shown here is Miss Alma

+... EXPERRT WITH FOILS

advanced.to finals in Canadian fencing championships.

Koch, 28, who two weeks age

— photo by Blackwell's

SKILLED FENCER V@ORKS IN HOTEL KITCHEN’

Probably the last place in the wor-
jd you would expect to find one of
‘Canada’s top women fencers would
be in a hotel kitchen washing dishes
for a living, but that is just where
you will find Miss Alma Koch, who
presently ranks second in the ranks
of Canadian women fencers.

And Alma doesn’t mind, her dish-
washing job at all. To her it is one

~of ‘the phases of her stay in Canada
that is adding to her experience. She
has been in this country two years
now, and plans on staying at least
until next spring before heading
back to her home in Austria.

She came to Canada to perfect her
English, a language that is a com-
pulsory subject in Austrian schools
‘and one she studied for six years. She
started out in company with a girl
friend but homesickness broke up the
partnership and her friend left for
home just a few months after arriv-
ing in Canada.

Although she is a graduate of
‘three years commercial study follow-
ing the equivalent of our high school.
and two years as a stenographer in
Austria, Miss Koch found her Eng-
jish wasn’t good enough to continue
in commercial work over here and
she has taken any kind of job that
came along, perfecting her use of
the language as she goes along.

But ske-has kept up with fencing,
a sport she became proficient in at
home. In Austria there-is a coun-
try-wide Club Askoer, open to all
working classes and with branches,
in every city and town. Alma's
home is in’ Kapfenberg, a steelwork
city about 100 miles from Vienna,
and here she learned her skill with
the foils. In two years she was in
top-flight competition and in 1950-
51 she won the club's
championship.

She first stayed at St. Thomas,
Ontario, when she came to Canada
and here she found that fencing was
quite popular. After seven months
she entered a Toronto open tourna-
ment and won the Coronation award,
going on from there to win the On-
tario championship.

Out on the west coast she dis-
covered that fencing was a term
most people limited to describing an

national

enclosure. It took her three-weeks
in Vancouver to find the Blades
club.

Pursuit’ of her favorite sport was |}

impossible when she came to Wil-

liams Lake in May, and when she
decided to enter the Canadian cham-
picnships that were held two weeks
ago, she had to limit her training to
foot work, there was no one to match
foils with.

But even this question of footwork
¢an mean hard work, as one young
man in town can vouch for. He of-
fered to work with Miss Koch in
practice, and after one two and a
jnalf hour session he failed to show
up again.

So much stress is laid on footwork
in fencing, Miss Koch explains, that a,
student of the sport in Europe is not
allowed to have a foil in his or her
hand until they have had four
months instruction.

Even without the training though,
Miss Koch took second place in the
Canadian event, losing only two
matches out of pine

New Social Welfare

‘Officer Arrives

Don Bingham, popular Social Wel-
fare official, who leaves this fall to
resume his studies at the University
of British Columbia, will be replaced
by Steve Watson, who arrived in town
last week 5

Mr. Watson, who is 28,“came to.
Canada from Surrey, England two
years ago. He has worked previous-
dy in Canada in Toronto and Kam-
loops. Following the war in England,
Mr. Watson took up agricultural en-
gineering and taught farm mechan-
ies for three years in a school for del-
inquent boys. ,

Mr. Watson is single and his chie?
hobby is ‘the stage. He has been an
active member of theatre groups in
England and Canada.

No Issue Next Week

The Tribune presses will be
silent next week as our staff
complete their annual holidays.

In other words, there will be
no issue of The Tribune Thurs-
day, August 26. Next public-
ation day will be Thursday,
September 2.

For the convenience of our
customers, the office will re-
main open during the plant
shut-down period.

a | holiday at White Rock.

|Two Men Injured
As Car Leaves Road

Two Prince George men were
rushed to hospital here Tuesday foll-
owing an accident near Lac La Hache}
when the car in which they were rid-
ing ran off the highway and over*
turned. |

Both men are making satisfactory
progress. Harry Weiss, driver of the

Shoulder blades and suffered intern-
al hemorrhage. Douglas Forrest,”
passenger, was operated on for in-
ternal injuries. :

The accident occurred on a curve
in the highway at 118 Mile about 9:16
Tuesday morning. It is not known |
why the car went out of control;
Lac La Hache residents rushed tu
the scene of the accident and found
both men thrown about 30 feet clear
of the completely wrecked vehicle.
Alex Bryce brought them to hospital,’

car, a Prince George taxi, broke both {*

Prices Steady As
Fall Cattle Sales

Start Locally

Chet Leavitt, secretary of the
Cariboo Cattlemen’s Association, re-
ports that 171 head of cattle were
moved through the association yarde
last Saturday as the fall selling season
got underway.

Light cows brought from 10 to 11
vents; heavy cows from 8 to 9.50 and
good canners to 7. Heifers brought
from 15 to 16 and calves from 15 to.
18.¢ Two steers were included and
brought 19.

It is too early to show much of a
trend, although cows showed an im-
‘provement over earlier shipmients,
as did heifers. The steers and calves
in Saturday’s selling were the first
moyed through the association this
fall.

val must be given by the Depa:
this has been tentatively given.

Keremeos Firm Enters Low
Bid On Elementary School

Low bidder and contractor on the two-room elementary
Skyline School in town is the firm of Overton Bros. of Kere-
meos, who submitted a price of $16,232.12.

Official appro-
rtment of Education, although

Work on the school will start by
the end of this week and will be.
cimpleted bp October 15. s

Six firms entered widely varying
bids on the ‘proposition’ type of teni-
der call issued by the school baard
‘he board had a 2308 square foot
jlocr plan drawn up ané contractor
were allowed a variation in detailt|
Two of the bids were based on a
pre-fabricated type of structure.

‘The firms and the prices submitted
were Greenall Bros, Burnaby (pre-
fab) $22,407; C. J. Oliver Ltd.,
Vancouver, $24,500; | Weymouth-
Wilson Construction (pre-fab) $23,
000; David Howie Ltd., Vernon,
$29,666.

The successful tendering firm is
currently completing several build-
ings for the Forestry Department
at Horsefiy.

Price of the completed job will be
possibly a thousand dollars over the
price submitted as adjustmtnts are

made to detailed specifications to
agree with school board require-
ments.

OTHER ACCOMMODATION

To make up additional classroom
space in town, the board has rented
St. Peter’s church -hall Yor the
school term and it will probably
house a junior high school class.
Until the opening of Skyline school.
a class will be accommodated in the.
balcony of the Elks Hall.

With no provision in the budget
for additional rural Schools, several
centres are building their own. This
‘is happening at Dempsey Lake near
111 Mile and at- Bach Sawmill on
Peavine Ridge. At present there are
not enough children in the Chimney
Lake area to warrant a school, but
if the required minimum is reached,
residents there will build. a school as
well
APPOINTMENTS

The following appointments to the
teaching staff have been approved:
Mrs A C Morris, former Lone Butte
principal, to home economics course
iat Williams Lake; Mrs. H. Richard-
son to Williams Lake elementary;
Mrs. D. H. Armes to Skyline or
Springhouse school, if the latter is
re-opened; Mrs. P. V. Harmon, Bea-
ver Valley; Miss Hileen Waddington,
Big Creek; Miss S. Kydd, temporary
certificate renewed, returns to
Blackwater; Mrs. P. M. Burtt, junior
division of Bridge Lak: L
Logan, Canim Lake East; Mis
E. Remple, Soda Creek; Mrs.
McQuarrie to Dog Creek. Mrs. Me-
Quarrie taught at Dog Creek in 1941
before her marriage.

INSURANCE

The board is arranging to make

available a students’ accident insur-

Mrs. W. Sloan and two sons

week from a month’s

turned this

policy to District 27 pupils.
‘The insurance premiums will be paid
by the parents and registration will
be handled by the teachers. The in-
rurance, everything
but hernia, will apply on any accit
dent or injury, while the ehila is off
school property or going t¢ and from
School, and for accidents sustained
while taking .part in any school
sports, whether on the school prop-
erty or not The policy provides full
medical coverage up to $3000. Cost
will be $1.50 per student for the
school term for those in grades one
‘to eight and $3.00 for those in grades
9 to 12.

ance

which covers

Safecrackers Enter Premises
Of Two Firms On Same Night

Over $2000

in cash was obtained by safecrackers last

Friday night who broke into the premises of two town firms.

Bulk of the money was stolen from
the grocery store of Western, Rife &
Pigeon, where the thieves, after
failing in an attempt to open the com-
pany safe with a charge of, nitro-
glycerine, used the ‘can-opener’ meth-
‘od on the bottom of the strongbox.
For some reason unknown, the safe-
crackers gave up on an attempt to
open the safe at Wlliams Lake Motors
after knocking the dial off with a
sledge hammer. They scooped $30
from a cash drawer.

Cash obtained from the safe at
Western, Rife & Pigeon’s amounted
to around $2,265. The company
carried burglary insurance of $2.-
000, taken out just two weeks before
the robbery. At Williams Lake Mo-
tors the safe contained about $450 in
cash.

There was evidence that the
‘thieves had spent some time in famil-
iarizing themselves with the premises
they intended to burglarize. At West-
ern, Rife & Pigeon’s a door blocks
the way from the store proper where
the safe is located, to the warehouse
at the back, and it is locked by a bar-
rel bolt on the store side. The thieves
gained entrance through a small
window into the warehouse end of
the building, went down into the
basement through a chute used to
store goods, and came up the stairs
on the store side of the wall. Then
they opened the inner warehouse
door and wheeled the safe inside.
They also took a flashlight from a
drawer in the rear counter to light
their way.

Once in the warehouse, they pre-
prepared the safe for blowing by
soaping the door and pouring in the
mitro. Sacks of beans were piled
against the safe and dynamite caps
were hooked up by batteries. For
some reason, the nitro proved too

ALL THAT EXHIBITORS NEED

IS A WEEK OF THAT

If the weatherman would co-oper-
ate with the provision of a week’s
sunshine, everyone in the Fal] Fair
Association would feel that next
week's showing of the annual event
would be a complete success.

Lack of sunshine has held back the
flowers in the area, particularly the
gladiolus, and these beautiful spikes
are needed in quantity this year for
the big Regional Glad Show that
will be held in conjunction with the
fair. Glad Club president Les Pi-
geon says that a heavy entry in this
regional show will be forthcoming

Plan Program For
Improving Sport
Fishing In District

A major plan of improvement of
some fishing spots throughout the
district will probably be undertaken
next year as the result of surveys that
are still being carried out by Game
Warden Joe Gibault.

Fisheries biologists of the Game
Department have agreed to place fish
ladders on the irrigation dams along
the Chimney Creek valley chain of
Chimney, Felker and Brunson lakes.
Permission is being sought now from
the holders of water licences.

Gavin Lake will be stocked with
rainbow trout and probably Antoine
Lake.

In addition, in lakes that have
been virtually taken over by coarse
these waters will be stocked
with cutthroat trout.

At the suggestion of the Horsefly
hoard of trade committee, the Inter-
national Pacific Salmon Commission
has approved the use of the Horsefly
Lake hatchery by the game depart-

(@ntinued or back page)

MISSING SUMMER

from Vancouver growers.

Fair Association president Roy
Clements has been busy for weeks
now with the organizational details.
He promises a return to a larger in-
dustrial display section with 12
firms taking space at the arena.
Only two districts have signified
they will be in the district display
section; the previous winners from
Alexis Creek and a new entry from
St. Joseph’s Mission. There will be
no Williams Lake entry.

New to the Fair this year will be
a section for competition among
rural one-room schools.. Six displays
are entered for competition for the

J. Drinkell trophy.

Official judge of the fair will be
District Agriculturist J. A. Pelter
of Vanderhoof. Judging the flowers
will be Frank Hutton of the Domin-
ion: Experimental Farm at Prince
George; sewing, and handicrafts will
be handled by Mrs. Robertson, also
of Prince George. Cooking and can-
ning will be judged by Mrs. S. B.
Patchet of Quesnel.

Judging of all classes will com-
mence at-noon next Thursday and
continue until 4 p.m. when the doors
will be open to the public.

The big regional glad show will
have two judges handling classes.
Back for his third year will be Harvey
Turnbull of Lillooet, and another
prominent judge, J.H.D. Tucker of
White Rock.

‘This year the spectators will be in-
vited to take part in the judging too.
In a class called ‘hall of fame’, exhib-
itors may enter only one spike. Spec-
tators will be handed ballots and will
vote for the spike they think should
take the award.

Helping out the gladiolus show
will be a large commercial display of
spikes from the Fraser Valley bulb
farm, Fernclift Gardes of W.R. Jack.

weak, and although both caps were
fired, the charge failed to detonate.

The thieves then up-ended the
safe and by use of an axe and crow-
bar, gained access to the money in-
side tools, flashlight and the empty
bottle of nitro were left on the scene.

Police say it is fortunate the nitro
wouldn't detonate. There was
enough to blow the safe right
‘through the roof. The following
morning an RCMP officer of the
Criminal Investigation Branch came
from Kamloops to neutralize the
dangerous fluid.

At Williams Lake Motors access
was again gained by a side window,
this time into the main business of-
fice. The safe was wheeled out of a
small inner office. In order to work
on the dial, the thieves walked
through the large garage buildins
into the body shop at the back to
obtain a hammer and two punche=

In getting the tools, the thi
had to pass an open door of
@ small room in the garage that is
used by Dave Lee, front end man,
who sleeps there for emergency call
work. Mr. Lee was in bed at the
time and did not know anything of
the attempted robbery. A battery
charger near @ wall of his room
would help to deaden any other
sounds. . z

Back. in the office the thieves
knocked off the dial but something
Must have made them fear detection
and they dropped everything and left
Here they also openeda cash drawer
in the parts room, and removed $30.
An empty cash register in the service
room had: been pried open.

Both break-ins were discovered
when the firms opened for business
Saturday morning. At Williams
Lake Motors Mrs. Ed. Baker dis-
covered the safecracking attempt
and Sid Western, one of the partners
in Western, Rife & Pigeon discover-
ed evidence of the robbery at his
store.

What time the break-ins occurred
is not known. Last time Friday
night anyone was at the grocery
store was around 9:30. At Wil-
liams Lake Motors, manager Art
Evans worked alone in the office
until sometime between 11 and 12
o'clock ‘

Change in the banking hours in
Williams Lake resulted in the gro-
cery store carrying so much cash
over Friday night. The banks are
not open for business Saturday morn-
ing.

For both business firms the rob-
beries were the first they had ex-
perienced.

OF THIS |
AND THAT |

Dear Reader:

It’s holiday time again, and no
matter how carefully we plan for the
difficult time around The Tribune, it
seems to spell nothing but trouble.

This year has been no exception,
and the lateness of your paper this
week is the end result.

Shutting down for a week doesn't
answer the whole problem, there is
still the other week that we try and
produce while short staffed, and this
is the week!

Thanks for bearing with us.

CLIVE STANGOE

Mr. and Mrs. Gary Hutchinson are
expected back this weekend from a
holiday in Alberta and the States.

0
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Stitt are on their
annual vacation, motoring to Salmon
Arm and then down to the coast
oo
Mrs. Grover Hance is recovering

in hospital fom a recent operation,